Jesus' Trial Before Pilate

Introduction to Jesus' Civil Trial and Mark's Account

0:07 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, October 15th, 1989, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to follow with me as I read, first of all, as background material to our exposition of Mark 15, 1 to 5, a passage in John's Gospel, some acquaintance with which is most helpful in understanding the record as given to us by the Holy Spirit through the pen of Mark. I shall read in your hearing John 18, verses 28 through 38. John 18, 28. They lead Jesus, therefore, from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. And it was early, and they themselves entered not into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.

1:19 Pilate therefore went out unto them and saith, What accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and said unto him, If this man were not an evildoer, we should not have delivered him up unto thee. Pilate therefore said unto them, Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law. The Jews said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death, that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spake, signifying by what manner of death he should die.

2:01 Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the king? Art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, Sayest thou this of thyself, or did others tell it thee concerning me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew?

2:24 Thine own nation and the chief priests delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servant, fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews.

2:45 But now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.

3:12 Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And now to Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15.

3:32 And follow please as I read the first five verses. Mark 15.

3:43 And straightway in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him up to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, Art thou the king of the Jews? And he answering saith unto him, Thou sayest. And the chief priests accused him of many things.

4:17 And Pilate again asked him, saying, Answerest thou nothing? Behold, how many things they accuse thee of. But Jesus no more answered anything, insomuch that Pilate marveled.

4:38 Let us again seek the face of God in prayer, beseeching God to fulfill his promise, that if we who are evil know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Spirit to those who ask him. Let us ask for the Spirit to come, as the Spirit of illumination.

5:02 Our Father, if ever we felt it was appropriate to take the shoes from off our feet, because we stand upon holy ground, it is as we draw nearer and nearer, in our study of those events in the life of our Lord Jesus, to that place where he will be impaled upon an instrument of execution, and will be submerged, beneath the billows of your righteous anger against the sins of your people. O Lord, we pray that you will even now come, and by the Holy Spirit drive every last vestige of carnal giddiness and flippancy and carelessness from our hearts, drive from our hearts by the power of the Spirit all of our native indifference and insensitivity, to the amazing reality of the crucifixion of the Lord of Glory. And, O blessed Spirit of the Father, come and testify of your dear and our only Savior, and the one whom you have come to reveal to us, even the Lord Jesus.

6:24 O God, we wait in expectation, acknowledging that left to ourselves we cannot perceive aright, left to ourselves our hearts are blocks of stone, before the most moving accounts in your holy word concerning the sufferings of Jesus. Come then, O blessed Spirit, and do your work amongst us, we pray, that our Lord Jesus may receive the reward of his sufferings in this place, even in this hour. Amen.

7:06 In our expositions of the Gospel of Mark, we have arrived at that point in the narrative of events which are found to be at the very heart and at the very foundation of the gospel of the grace of God. As we have already begun to discover in the events leading up to and culminating in the execution of our Lord as a common criminal, we have in this section of the gospel narrative the most brilliant manifestations of divine mercy displayed against the murky backdrop of the most revolting, the most nauseating displays of human perversity and sin. But should we expect it to be otherwise? If the gospel is the good news of God's mercy to hell-deserving sinners, good news which centers in the cross of Christ, then surely around that cross will be found displayed the marvels of divine love and the misery of human depravity. And so I urge you to come with me as we proceed to follow our Lord

8:30 out of the agony and triumph of his holy wrestlings in Gethsemane, on to his brief appearance before Annas, the high priest Emeritus, before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, and then on to Pilate, to Herod, back to Pilate, and then to all of the shame, the nakedness, the agony, the shrouded heavens, the cry of dereliction there upon Golgotha, followed by its great shout of triumph and of victory. And as we direct our attention to Mark 15, verses 1 to 5, let me remind you as we come to our study this morning that in comparing the four gospel accounts, it is clear that in this segment of our Lord's apprehension, and trial, we have two major categories of his trial with three distinct elements under each of those categories. There is first what men have called the ecclesiastical trial, that is, his appearance before the religious leaders

9:54 and the Sanhedrin. The second major category is his civil trial, that is, his appearance before the Roman authorities, who alone had the power of capital punishment. And under his ecclesiastical trial, there is, according to John's record, the brief appearance before Annas, the high priest emeritus. There is the nighttime appearance before the Sanhedrin, the passage we studied two weeks ago, and then there is the daytime appearance before the same Sanhedrin, the appearance recorded by Mark in chapter 15 and verse 1. But after this ecclesiastical trial, there is the civil trial. It begins with this initial appearance before Pilate recorded in our text. And then, exclusive to Luke, is the record of a brief appearance before Herod.

11:00 And that is followed by his final appearance before Pilate, at which point he is condemned to death by the civil authorities, taken off and crucified. Now, as we take up the narrative of Mark 15, 1 to 5, we have what, to Mark, is a very brief, a very succinct account of this early morning appearance before the Sanhedrin, and the record of his first appearance in civil trial before Pilate. Our headings, therefore, are very simple and are dictated by the substance of the text itself. In verse 1, the early morning gathering before the Sanhedrin, verses 2 to 5, the first appearance before Pilate. First of all, then, the early morning gathering of the Sanhedrin, verse 1. And straightway in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole council held a consultation and bound Jesus and carried him away and delivered him up to Pilate. Having already reached a decision in the illegally held mock trial held in the middle of the night, one that is recorded

The Early Morning Gathering of the Sanhedrin (Mark 15:1)

12:28 in detail in Mark 14, 53 to 65, the same group gathers at daybreak, probably between 5 and 6 o'clock in the morning, in order to lend some semblance of legality to their proceedings. According to the accepted Jewish law of the time, no trial was to be held on a feast day. Any kind of trial on the Passover was illegal. Furthermore, it was illegal to hold a trial on a legally accepted day in the middle of the night.

13:11 Furthermore, it was illegal to condemn a man at a legally held trial and not to have at least one day pass before passing sentence and following through with the execution of that sentence. And so all of these proceedings of the Sanhedrin are shocked through with patent illegalities. But in the midst of it, they are concerned to at least whitewash their previously committed determination to put the Lord Jesus to death by calling what would have at least the semblance of a legal day time trial. Furthermore, they understood that in terms of Roman jurisprudence, whoever got to the court first, it was first come, first served. And then royal gentlemen, very early in the day, would go off to the golf links for the rest of the day. And so if you had pressing business, you had better appear at court very early in the morning.

14:25 And so Mark records that straightway in the morning, at daybreak, the entire Sanhedrin gathers, but notice Mark places peculiar emphasis upon the unique leadership and instigation of the chief priests in this particular gathering of the Sanhedrin. For he tells us that the chief priests with the elders, the elders and scribes and the whole council held a consultation. And so the main actors, the main instigators in this early morning gathering of the Sanhedrin, shaping its direction and seeking to determine its issue are the chief priests. That body would be comprised of all of the former high priests, those who had sacred responsibilities in the sacred service of God, alas, are now found as the very ringleaders of putting the incarnate God to death. And so at their instigation, the entire Sanhedrin gathers and we are told by Mark that they did three things. They made a formal resolution,

15:52 they effected a forced extradition, and they fulfilled a previous prediction. First of all, they made a formal resolution. Most of our translations say that the whole council held a consultation. Well, the particular verb translated held a consultation is better rendered past a resolution.

16:25 The usage of this verb in other places in the gospel records points not so much to a council of deliberation, but rather a council of deliberation that leads to a decision or a resolution. And they had already decided what they desired to do with him. We read in our study of the previous chapter, verse 64 of chapter 14, you have heard the blasphemy. What think ye?

17:02 And they all, that is all within the Sanhedrin, condemned him to be worthy of death. And so the gathering on this occasion is one that we would call a kangaroo court. The issue in their minds has already been sent to the jury, and a verdict has been returned. But again, to keep up a front of some semblance of justice, and here Luke helps us, for he alone amplifies this initial appearance before Pilate in the morning hours.

17:39 And we are told that they went through a rehearsal of the very issues that were brought forward in that nighttime appearance before the Sanhedrin. And so there is first of all as the action of the Sanhedrin this formal resolution. And then the second thing is that they effected a forced extradition. When a criminal is transported from one country or state to another, we call that a legal extradition.

18:18 Well, look at the text. It tells us that they bound Jesus and carried him away. Here was a forced extradition, the kind of thing we will see in a news clip when we have the picture of a criminal whose hands are forcibly placed behind his back and handcuffed. He may also be bound with other means of restraint, and burly guards take him one on one arm and shove him into a paddy wagon.

18:54 And then he is taken off and flown perhaps from one country to another, and we call it an extradition. Well, in a very real sense, this is precisely what Mark is describing. For here is an extradition not from one state to another, from one country to another, but from one court of judgment to another. Things now move from the Jewish and the ecclesiastical into the civil and to the Roman court of concern.

19:33 But then thirdly, they not only effected this forced extradition based upon the resolution they passed, but unwittingly they fulfilled a previous prediction. For Mark tells us that having bound him and carried him away, the very term used in secular Greek literature to describe the transportation of a criminal, it says they delivered him up to Pilate, was what men call the procurator, something like a governor in charge of the area of Judea and Samaria, appointed by the Roman authorities to keep peace and order in that area, and for probably at least forty years the Jews had been deprived of any right to inflict capital punishment even for capital crimes. And Rome was very jealous to keep that authority within her own hands. When they killed Stephen, for example, in the book of Acts, that was nothing more or less than a lynch mob, but it was an execution utterly unapproved of

21:00 by the Roman authorities. And so without knowing it, when they bind Jesus, carry him away, and deliver him up to Pilate, they are fulfilling a previous prediction made by our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Back in chapter 10 of Mark's Gospel in verse 33, our Lord had spoken in very explicit language, saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered up to the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him unto the Gentiles. And the exact same verb is used of the delivering up unto Pilate and our Lord's own prediction that he would be delivered up unto the Gentiles. And so in this opening verse, in which we have described the activity of that early morning gathering of the Sanhedrin, they gathered together and made their resolution,

Jesus' Initial Appearance Before Pilate: The Accusations (Mark 15:2-5, John 18, Luke 23)

22:28 effected their forced extradition, and unwittingly fulfilled this previous prediction of our Lord. Now in verses 2 to 5, we have some of the details of the initial appearance before Pilate. And if we are to understand this very abbreviated account of this initial encounter with Pilate, it is helpful to remember some of the facts recorded in John 18, 28 to 38, the passage which I read in your hearing. And when we compare the various gospel records, it seems to be clear that when Jesus was delivered over to Pilate, Pilate, in keeping with Roman law, would expect that the charges against Jesus would be stated and substantiated by those who bound him and delivered him up to them. And therefore, it is not surprising to read that no sooner is Jesus presented to Pilate, but that Pilate asks this question recorded in John 18, 29. Pilate therefore went out unto them and said,

23:55 What accusation bring ye against this man? According to Roman law, he was not simply to rubber stamp their previous conclusions. Rather, they were to bring a formal accusation. They were to support it by valid testimony of eyewitnesses.

24:19 And so when Pilate asked them, What accusation do you bring against this man? They are caught off guard, and they regard in a way that has a kind of sick and ironic humor in it. They answered and said unto him, If this man were not an evildoer, we should not have delivered him up unto you. In other words, we don't need to bring specific accusations.

24:47 Does not our standing as men of the cloth, does not our standing as religious leaders validate that we would certainly not deliver up an innocent man to you, Pilate? If this man were not an evildoer, we should have not delivered him up unto you. But Pilate, being the cynic that he was, and as we see the unfolding of his character, we see a very mixed man, a tortured man, a pathetic man. But yet at this point, a man with some principles, Pilate therefore said unto him, Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.

25:28 He was familiar enough with Jewish law to know that under Jewish law there could not be a sentence issued without valid witnesses substantiating the charge. And so he tries to rid himself of the case and says, Well, if that's all you're going to say is that I'm to take your word for it, I give him back to you to deal with him according to your law. But then you see they answer, implicit in their answer being we've already judged him to be worthy of death. The Jews said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.

26:10 In other words, Pilate, we've come to the conclusion he's guilty of a capital offense. They do not mention it at first. Why? Because that capital offense would cut no mustard with Pilate.

26:21 To say he was guilty of blasphemy, Pilate would have said, Those are matters of your God and of your laws, but my court has nothing to do with them. If you've come to speak of sedition, if you've come to speak of attempts to overthrow Roman government and Roman rule, then you're in the proper realm. But if they are matters of your religion and right and wrong and what is honorable and what is blasphemous, you judge him according to your law. But they said, Our law will not allow us to put a man to death, indicating to Pilate that in their judgment he was guilty of a capital offense.

26:58 And John then says, parenthetically, that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled. Isn't that amazing? Behind all of the vicious, vile, devilish, murderous intent of these apostate religious leaders, acting consistent with all that their hearts had become, they were but fulfilling the very word of Jesus, the word in which he signified in John 3 that the Son of Man must be lifted, that he must die by crucifixion, that he must die by Roman execution. And though they come thinking that at this point everything that transpires is the outworking of their own devilish schemes, they are but planting their feet in the tracks of divine decree and fulfilling the very word of Jesus. Now it was at this point, according to Luke 23 and verse 2, that under the pressure of realizing that Pilate is not going to take it upon their word and their credibility,

28:23 that they begin to manufacture charges that would demand capital punishment under Roman law. Now remember, when they had him in the middle of the night before the Sanhedrin, they said, What think ye? He has spoken blasphemy. He is worthy of death.

28:45 But now if you'll turn to Luke 23 and verse 2, you will see that the trumped-up charges have nothing to do with blasphemy when standing before Pilate. Luke 23, 1, And the whole company of them rose up and brought him before Pilate, and they began to accuse him. We found this man perverting our nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is literally a Christ-King, saying that he is a Messiah-King. What charges do they trump up?

29:29 Well, they trump up the charge, first of all, that he is a perverter of our nation, a word which means to cause something to go crooked or to be crooked. We would be on a steady and stable course, but this man, is constantly perverting our nation. He is turning us. He is the cause of disruption within our nation.

29:55 And you can see how immediately that would catch the ear of Pilate. He is there by Roman authority and appointment to keep civil stability there in Samaria and in Judea. And now the accusation comes, here is someone who takes the ship of state and is constantly perverting it. And is constantly grabbing the rudder and turning it a few degrees left and right.

30:20 There is the first accusation. He is perverting our nation. Secondly, a blatant downright lie. They said, forbidding to give tribute to Caesar.

30:31 This is the very crowd who a few days before tried to hang him up in this very area. And they came with their supercilious look of innocence upon their face saying, is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar? Or not? Laughing under their breath saying, we got him now.

30:49 And you remember how the Lord silenced them? Bring me a denarii. Whose image and superscription is upon it? Caesar's.

30:58 Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. And he shamed them in front of all of the breathless crowds who thought surely now they have him pinned on the horns of a dilemma. He never forbade them. He never forbade to give taxes to tribute to Caesar.

31:20 But this trumped up charge, you see, is meant to bring Pilate over on their side. For if there is a withholding of taxes, then of course it will not go well with Pilate. Why are you not exercising your authority to make sure that proper amounts of revenue come back to Rome? Well, there's a public agitator called Jesus who comes out of Galilee.

31:45 And wherever he goes, he forbids people to pay their taxes. So they knew that this would strike a note, you see, indicating sedition, if not downright treason. And then the culminating accusation was this. And saying that he himself is a Christ King, a Messiah King.

32:10 Now in the light of what we learned from secular history coupled with the witness found in the gospel narratives, we know that there was a tremendous messianic expectancy among the Jews. But we also know that that expectancy was pervasively political and carnal. They looked for a Messiah who would break the yoke of Rome and set Israel free. And so when they said, this man claims to be a Messiah King, that could only register one thing on the mind of Pilate.

32:52 Here is someone who is a threat to Rome. And as Rome's representative, he is a threat to me. So you see, these accusations were all calculated to touch raw nerves in the political sensitivities of Pilate. For unless the Jews could persuade him that Jesus was guilty of crimes deserving of capital punishment, they could not carry out the settled intention of their hearts expressed in the nighttime court that he was worthy of death.

33:33 And so they bring forward these accusations. And it is probably at this point in the midst of those accusations that Jesus has this semi-private dialogue with Pilate explaining that though he is a king, the nature of his kingship is not earthly and worldly. The material that we read together in John chapter 18. Now, with that background, we come back to Mark 15 and focus our attention upon Pilate's first question to Jesus and the response of Jesus to that question. Now you see, it begins to make sense. Pilate did not pluck this question out of the air. All of this material that I've sought to lay before you in summary form has preceded.

Pilate's Question and Jesus' Affirmation (Mark 15:2)

34:34 And Pilate asked him, Aren't thou the king of the Jews? Now remember the picture. We saw in our study of that night-time trial before the Sanhedrin that after they had said he is worthy of death, they spat upon him. They struck his face with bare knuckles until it became a mass of welts.

35:06 And when they were done their sport, they handed him over to the temple guards. And Mark says in Mark 14, 65, the officers received him with the blows of their hands. And there is no indication that anyone took him aside and washed the spittle from his face, placed ice packs upon his contusions and upon the bruises on his face. And you can imagine how it must have appeared to Pilate when standing before him is this disheveled, common, peasant, a Galilean peasant, face perhaps now caked with dry spittle mingled with the blood of blows that were placed upon him by bare knuckles again and again. And many of the commentators have tried to suggest, perhaps Edersheim capturing it more lucidly than any, that there was a mixture of contempt and of cynicism and of awe, in the question which we mark throughout the bearing and the words of Pilate. It was as if two powers were contending for the mastery in his heart, that is Pilate's heart. By the side of uniform contempt

36:35 for all that was Jewish and of that general cynicism which could not believe in the existence of anything higher, we mark a feeling of awe in regard to Christ. Even though the feeling may have been one of superstition. And as I pondered the words and sought to somehow try to hear them as Pilate may well have spoken them, I am satisfied in my own mind that he spoke them in a tone that at least approached this significance of the tone with which I read them. And Pilate asked him, the king of the Jews, art thou, by the religious leaders, speaking to me, deposited before my court of scrutiny and decision, art thou standing there with welts and bruises, dried skin and blood, art thou the king of the Jews? There is this question.

38:00 And what was Jesus' response? And he answering saith unto him, Thou sayest. And there is almost universal agreement among commentators that whereas the earlier writers said this was a veiled yes, but not a clear affirmation, that this is bringing over into the Greek language a structure of a Hebraism or an Aramaic way of response that would clearly indicate affirmation without reservation. Art thou the king of the Jews?

38:44 Will you be so bold and filled with such reckless temerity to confess that you, over by the religious authorities, standing before my court, that you are indeed king of the Jews? And our Lord quietly and calmly affirms, Thou sayest it. You say it. It is you say.

39:17 It is not as the Jews conceive their king will be. For, Pilate, I have already told you inside the praetorium into which they would not enter, lest they be defiled. I have told you my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, then would my servants fight to protect me.

39:38 I have told you that mine is a kingdom established by truth, and all who see in me the king of truth and own my word of truth become the subjects of my kingdom. But if I were to say otherwise, I would be like these men, bald-faced liars. Yes, I am what you say I am. Pilate's first question and the response of Jesus.

Intensified Accusations and Jesus' Majestic Silence (Mark 15:3-5)

40:07 Then in verse 3 we have the intensified accusation of the chief priests. And the chief priests accused him of many things. Once again notice the emphasis upon the leadership of the chief priests. Taking the lead, they begin to let loose a barrage of accusations against the Lord Jesus.

40:36 And by the use of the imperfect tense, Mark is indicating that this was a sustained barrage of various accusations. Can you use your imagination and try to picture what the Spirit of God is setting before us? Here Pilate is asked in his cynical way, Art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus has affirmed it is as you say.

41:06 And now from one direction and another, a cacophony of voices hurling this accusation. That accusation, another accusation. And Pilate stands and listens and watches. And in the midst of that cacophony of confused voices and accusations, the Lord Jesus stands majestically with His dried spittle upon His face and any blood from the contusions and bruises inflicted upon Him.

41:40 So that as we come to verse 4, we see the second question of Pilate and the response of Jesus. This second question is one that he can no longer keep within him. Watching this scene and taking in all of the dynamics of it, Pilate again asked Him saying, Thou nothing? You see many a time in the place of having to decide in civil matters.

42:18 And he had seen hot-blooded Jews going at one another, hammer and tong with their verbal assaults and with self-defense, accusation and counter-accusation. One accusation met by a denial, but not so in this case. It was all one-sided. All of the artillery of accusatory language was landing upon this one called Jesus.

42:47 And not so much as a BB is being shot back until Pilate could contain himself no more and said, Don't you answer anything. The emphasis is strong with a double negative answer is Thou nothing? Behold, how things they accuse Thee of. With this mountain of accusations rising up around you one after another throwing the accusation and it rises and rises.

43:18 Aren't you going to put forth your words to tear away at least one of them? And then verse 5 is the response of Jesus. But Jesus no more answered anything. He continues to stand in majestic silence.

43:41 Here was unashamed innocence that would not dignify these false accusations with a verbal response. Even to risk would be to give them a dignity of which they were unworthy and to demean his holy innocent manhood. Until as we shall see in subsequent studies it was that very majestic silence of innocence that tore away at the conscience not only of his accusers but Pilate himself. And he begins to have deep questions about who indeed is he? What is before him? Later on we'll read of the conveyance about a dream and other indications that Pilate is torn with a growing consciousness that though what he sees has all the appearance of a guilty common felon what is before him is no ordinary man. So that when Jesus no more answers anything Mark tells us that Pilate marveled.

45:05 Here was the cumulative effect upon Pilate how he expressed it we do not know but inwardly he marveled the very word used to describe the response of people when they see the mighty works of Christ Mark 5 and verse 20. There was fear there was awe perhaps there was an element even of irritation so much so that according to Luke 23 4 through 7 he grows increasingly desirous of washing his hands of this whole case so when he picks up in one of the accusations he comes from Galilee Mark Luke says when he heard he was from Galilee and of Herod's jurisdiction he said take him up to Herod take him up to Herod. And Luke records how Pilate made this attempt to clear himself of any further dealings with him. Now there is the account of the early morning gathering of the Sanhedrin and then the initial appearance of our Lord before Pilate. I have sought to lay before you the essential details I trust you've bent mind and heart to try to picture them with me and to grasp them and I stated in the introduction of our study

Application: The Glory of Jesus' Self-Composure and Restraint

46:33 that we should not be surprised to see in these events surrounding the gracious procurement of salvation for vile sinners through the bloodletting of the Son of God some of the most lucid displays of the glory of God's grace against the backdrop of the most lurid displays of sins, horror and ugliness and that's exactly the practical lessons that I want us to highlight this morning. I want you to consider with me but two categories of application from the text today. First of all, I want you to behold with me the glory of the Lord Jesus as he is delivered to Pilate and undergoes his first examination by Pilate and under that heading I ask you to behold in our silent Lord the moral perfections of perfect self-composure. and principled restraint. Behold in our silent Lord a silence that made a hard and cynical Roman pagan full of amazement to behold in our silent Lord the moral perfections

48:00 of perfect self-composure and of principled restraint. Now what am I trying to say in those words? Just this. It is said of our Lord in Hebrews 1.9 quoting from the Psalms Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And in our Lord Jesus Christ every legitimate human emotion that ought to be felt in the presence of righteousness and of iniquity was felt by our blessed Lord. He was not a stoic He was not neutered of human emotions but in the mystery of the God-man

48:58 every human emotion was under constant and perfect self-composure and principled restraint. When the emotion of love is stirred looking upon the rich young ruler a love that will be honest about the terms upon which he may possess eternal life and when our Lord lays out those terms and the young man spurns them and turns away from the Savior to worship at the shrine of his money his love that went with him was principled and therefore he did not run after him and lower his terms of discipleship. That's what I mean by perfect self-composure and principled restraint in all of his emotions in the full range from the most intense pure unsullied human love to the most intense pure and righteous human anger against sin. Now reconstruct the circumstances. He stands before Pilate. The accusations are quickly contrived.

50:21 He disrupts the people. A lie. He tells people don't pay taxes. A lie.

50:31 He is a Messiah King. And he knew what they meant to convey by that. A lie. He had just said yes I am a king but not an earthly king.

50:44 With an earthly kingdom. I am the king of what? Truth. He that is of the truth will embrace me as king.

50:53 And he who loved righteousness and loved truth who was the embodiment of the truth I am the truth. What must his holy soul have felt when he his character his life his actions were literally immersed in a sense Can you begin to imagine what the soul of a sinless son of God must have felt? The utter revulsion for it was he who said ye of your father the devil he was a liar from the beginning and abode not in the truth he is a liar and the father of it. He was there in Eden. He saw the tenter seduce our first parents with the lie. He has seen the trail of blood left by the lie in the course of human history and all of his holy soul is revulsed.

52:01 And yet the text says Jesus no more answered anything. Immersed in a sense of human life there is our Lord in perfect self composure and principled restraint. He sees their duplicity a few hours before they said you're a blasphemer worthy to die. And now when Pilate says what are your accusations they don't mention blasphemy.

52:39 He sees the duplicity of unprincipled men whose yea is not yea and whose nay is not nay. And he who was the embodiment of commitment to equity and righteousness must behold this horrible pouring forth of duplicity double mindedness calculated deceit. May I say it reverently there was within the soul of our Lord a veritable storm a tempest of righteous feeling heaving as he was plunged in that cesspool of lies and duplicity. And yet in perfect self composure and principled restraint he answered. Why? Why?

Application: Jesus' Fulfillment of Isaiah's Prophecy

53:45 Well that leads us to the second point of application under that heading of our Lord's glory. Behold in our silent Lord the perfect fulfilment of the ancient prophecy of Isaiah. Turn to Isaiah 53. Well did our Lord know this portion that spoke of him for he inspired the prophet to write it.

54:11 All of the Old Testament prophets spoke by the impulse of the spirit of Christ according to Peter. And we read in Isaiah 53.6 that the one on whom Jehovah would lay the iniquity of his people is the one described in verse 7. He was oppressed yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth.

54:41 And as a lamb that is led to the slaughter and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth. And oh the glory of our Lord's perfect fulfilment of the ancient prophecy of Isaiah. You see the one who fits and fulfills verse 6 the one by whom our iniquities would be borne away. It would have been a bogus Christ if he had opened his mouth even in legitimate justification for the one on whom the Lord would lay our iniquities as the perfect lamb of God would like a lamb led to the slaughter and a sheep before its shearers be uttered and utterly dumb before the most vicious vile dishonest accusations of his enemies. Blessed be God for the conscious holy restraint and self-composure of our Lord Jesus for he knew that beyond his court there would be the cross and there would be the wrath

56:08 but only in this could our redemption be secured. May I state it in a way that I hope will grip you had he opened his mouth we'd be without a savior. But he kept his mouth shut that ours might be opened this morning in praise to the lamb worship and adoration of our blessed God who so loved the world as to give his only begotten son. May I say thirdly as I point to the Lord Jesus in this first scene behold not only the moral perfections of his self-composure the perfect fulfillment of the ancient prophecy but behold in our silent Lord the powerful example to all of his suffering saints. Behold in the silent Lord the powerful example to all the saints. One of the most helpful commentators on the Gospel of Mark that I have found in the course of my expositions is the commentary by Lane and Lane continually reminds anyone studying the book and using his comments along the way that the Gospel of Mark was peculiarly

Application: Jesus as an Example for Suffering Saints

57:38 targeted to the church and the people of God at Rome and at the time were experiencing persecution and opposition and our Lord seeks again and again to give comfort to his own. And Lane remarks that this account of Jesus' conduct before Roman authority was of primary importance to Mark's readers. Many of them would be compelled to stand before a pagan tribunal and be subjected to the same indignities which Christ suffered. They were to expect no preferential treatment.

58:15 Jesus had clearly said in chapter 13, 9-13 that they would be handed over to governors and kings and would be held in contempt for his sake. And then he goes on to say that it is in beholding the Lord Jesus before the Roman authorities that the Christians were to take their pattern of response. And isn't that exactly what Peter does when writing? Writing to wrongfully treated slaves in 1 Peter chapter 2.

58:48 What glory is it if when you sin and are buffeted for it? You see the overtones. They pitted him with their hand.

59:00 If when you do well and you... What glory is it if when you sin and are buffeted you take it patiently?

59:06 But if when you do well and suffer for it, you shall take it patiently. This is acceptable with God. Why? For here unto were you called because Christ also suffered for you leaving you an example that you should follow his steps.

59:24 And what aspect of his suffering is highlighted? Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, when he was the recipient of abusive, destructive, untruthful speech, that's what reviling is, he reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him who judges righteous. When our Lord Jesus stood before Pilate's judgment bar, Pilate's judgment bar was of little account to him.

60:07 You remember he said in another context when he was taunted, don't you know I have power to do this? And that, he calmly said, you would have no power except it were given you from heaven. He stood before the bar of infinite and eternal justice and he knew that the day of vindication was coming. He knew that following the spittle and the shame and the lies and the false accusations, the sentence, the execution, there would be a glorious vindication and he would be declared son of God with power when on the third day, he would be raised from the dead and then subsequently seated at his father's right hand far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named. And our Lord could bring as it were the shrunken time span and see standing there in Pilate's court, not only the open tomb, the parted heavens, the glorious throne, but as he already indicated in that midnight trial, he saw the clouds of glory, saw himself returning in power as the judge of the universe. And so he could say in the language of Paul, it is a very little thing with me, Pilate, if I be judged of you or of these Sanhedrists. He that judges me is my father

61:34 and I know that he will vindicate me in his own appointed time and the hour is coming when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that I am Lord. To the glory of my own Father. Oh dear Christians, we have here the glory of our Lord Jesus as the great pattern of his people in the midst of suffering for righteousness sake, particularly in the face of lies and false accusations. We are not to dignify them by responding when they lie, when they lie so far beyond of what we are and have proved to be by the grace of God.

Application: The Wretched State of the Human Heart

62:27 But then I say very quickly, behold in this passage not only the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in this threefold way, but behold the wretched state of the human heart when devoid of saving grace. Behold it in two instances. What is the human heart like when devoid of saving grace? But follow me now.

62:52 But immersed in orthodox religion. Look at the Sanhedrists. Why wouldn't they go into the Praetorium? John tells us.

63:04 They would not go in Pilate's dwelling. Why? They would be defiled in the midst of a religious feast day. Think of it.

63:16 They've just come from plotting his murder. But being found in a Gentile's home on a holy day, that's religion. Devoid of saving grace. All it knows is right places, right times, right words, external deeds.

63:44 But a heart suffused with love to God, a heart with the breadth and length of the law of God, it knows nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. It can lie and deceive and yet be so properly religious. On a holy day. Edersheim used this phrase that it could not escape my mind.

64:21 He said, Here is unscrupulous scrupulosity and unrighteous conscientiousness. That's it. Unscrupulous scrupulosity. Unrighteous conscientiousness.

64:37 I ask you sitting here this morning, is that you? Oh, you've got religious dogma and doctrine and religious activity and forms and ritual. If any were to judge you externally like these Sanhedrists, you'd be the chief religious man or woman on the block. But you've come fresh this week.

65:00 You've not been utterly upright in what you said in response to a question which if you were perfectly truthful would have caused you embarrassment, would have cost you some bucks, would have cost you reputation. And you've learned how to take half truths like they did and state them as though they were the whole truth. He is a Messiah King. Well, that was true.

65:25 But not true in the way they said it and in the way they knew it would register on the year of Pilate. They learned how to judge in such a way with one side of them to deceive and the other to make a salve to apply to their smarting consciences. Are you like that? A man in whom the Holy Ghost dwells is determined to be honest, with a simple affirmation as he would be in issues affecting the destiny of his country.

65:58 He's as honest with a penny as he would be with a thousand dollars. Why? Because the principle of honesty is implanted in his heart by the Holy Ghost. The law of God's been written on his heart.

66:12 It's not a matter of whose bed he sleeps in but what paths his mind traverses. Honesty is not just a matter of technical arrangement of words. It's a matter of the conveyance of reality. What a wretched state man is in when he's got orthodox religion but no grace.

66:44 He's constantly putting the Son of God to death afresh. And then look at Pilate. We see in him the horrors of paganism devoid of light and grace. Here he is, an opportunistic man, a man ready to violate his conscience, to vacillate between his instincts of right and the pressures of the crowd.

67:13 As I've pondered these passages, there are times when I've found everything from nausea to disgust to anger to pity. All of them mingled as I've contemplated this poor wretch of a man called Pilate. You see, it's a wonderful thing to be blessedly predictable. And it's only true saints who are predictable.

67:41 Pilate was unpredictable because he was always weighing his options. What a horrible thing to have to be shifting weights on the scale all the time. A true Christian, when you can peel down through everything else at the root, is a very simple creature. This one thing I do.

68:08 For to me to live is Christ. The love of Christ constrains me. And if in obedience to Christ I must eat crow feathers in all from crow cooked or uncooked, if I must lose faith, I lose communion with my Savior. If I must go in a path that means economic disaster, I can be poor and have communion with my Savior, but I can't be deceptive over a penny and maintain communion with my Savior.

68:52 To be a Christian at heart is a relatively simple person. But people like Pilate, you never know what they're going to do. Why? Because they are not held in the grip of a few fundamental principles which regulate their moral and ethical decisions.

69:15 The cross is a glorious revelation of the beauty of our Savior. But everything surrounding it is an ugly revelation of the human heart. And God shows us what our hearts are. That we might appreciate who Christ is.

Call to Christ and Concluding Prayer

69:34 And that we might run from what we are and what we've done into the arms of Him who is glorious in His saving virtue and power. Oh, my friend, if you're not in Christ, go to Him. He did not stand there amidst all of those accusations simply to form an example for His own. This was part of the complex of events that would lead to His being the one who bore the curse of God against human sin.

70:08 And He bids you to go to Him as a sinner and to find in Him the grace and mercy that God delights to confer upon all who trust Him. Let us pray. Our Father, how we thank You for giving to us the record of the life and of the death of Your beloved Son. And we confess that we stand amazed before His holy self-composure.

70:52 We confess, Lord, we're not like Him. We confess that we are so often the victims of our unmortified passions. But yet we do confess we want to be like Him. And we pray that You would fill us with the Holy Spirit that we may be more and more like our Savior.

71:15 We confess, O Lord, we stand disgusted, nauseated, and yet condemned as well as we gaze upon a man like Pilate. For we acknowledge in and of ourselves we are but His clones, concerned about everything but Your smile and Your approbation. O Lord, have mercy upon any who are under the tyranny of seeking to please men, seeking to please themselves, and who have never been brought by way of the cross to that place where their great desire is to please You. Deal with them in mercy.

72:00 Liberate them from their bondage. And help us who name Your name and know Your Son to be more and more like Him. Seal then Your word to our hearts for Your glory and for our good. In Jesus' name we pray.

72:17 Amen.